Responsible

“If not us, who? If not now, when?”

We know we are setting ourselves a big challenge. We know we won’t always get it right.

But we believe if we don’t try, we’ll never achieve anything.

Being responsible is about not turning a blind eye. Not leaving it for ‘someone else’. Not ignoring a thorny issue.
It runs from issues on the farm, to the people in the industry, to the consumers in the restaurant.

Relationships

“To provide more than a product – to help people achieve their goals”

Whether it be a supplier, a customer, or a colleague, healthy
relationships are key.
We don’t see ourselves simply as a supplier, dealing in one-way transactions.
We want to partner with like-minded people, and work as a team to help them achieve greater success.

Projects

Words aren’t enough. To achieve our vision, we must take action. Within our Four Pillars framework, there are 12 focus areas that we believe we need to work on in order to achieve our goal.

Underlying that framework is a portfolio of real projects that we believe will help us to achieve our vision. Browse through a selection of completed, current, and future projects below.

Completed Projects

Carbon Neutral

Our biggest project to date, and achieved over a 12 month period. Certification of our business and every product sold.

On 1st Dec 2018, Flinders + Co became the first meat company in Australia, and possibly the world, to fully offset all carbon emissions from not only our business, but every kilogram of meat we sell. This sheet is designed to give you the key facts around this project, which forms part of our “Cultivate Better” framework. It will also give you directions on where to find out more.

Why?

This project forms part of our “Cultivate Better” framework. This framework is designed to deliver on our company mission – to help cultivate a better food world. We want to show that being carbon neutral doesn’t need to be some far away goal in the future – it can be achieved now.

How did you do it?

We engaged the Carbon Reduction Institute who analysed our business in Melbourne, and the supply chain of each main product line that we sell, in order to calculate an accurate total carbon footprint.

To start, we reduced our carbon emissions from things like fuel and electricity as much as possible. Then, we invested in a number of carbon offset projects to help reduce our net emissions to zero.

What projects?

There are a number of amazing carbon offset projects we are supporting to help us become carbon neutral.

For example, Greenhams, who supply Cape Grim, Robbins Island, and Bass Strait Beef brands, have transitioned from burning coal to using a renewable biomass waste product that is extracted from daisy flower farms in Tasmania. This project reduced their carbon emissions by 90 per cent.

Another is the ‘Lifestraw’ Project in Kenya. These water purification units are distributed to some of the poorest families in the country, allowing them access to clean drinking water, without the need to burn fossil fuels to boil it. In doing so, their carbon emissions are greatly reduced.

As part of our Carbon Neutral audit, a switch to 100% renewable energy for our Melbourne facility was completed.

The Renewable Energy project was born early on in the carbon neutral analysis process.

Our carbon consultants identified this as one area we could significantly reduce our emissions, without the need for carbon offsets.

At the start of 2018, we made the switch to 100% Renewable energy from Hydro Tasmania, reducing our carbon footprint significantly. This energy is provided from a mixture of renewable sources based in Tasmania, including the Gordon Hydro-electric dam scheme in the state’s south west, and wind farms in the North West.

As an industry that can at times be opaque, with differing standards and interpretations for ‘free range’ and ‘barn raised’, we decided that we needed to cut through and ensure we were aligned with the right producers.

As part of this project the directors visited 5 different pork farms, ranging from true outdoor free range, to eco-shelter models, to intensive barn raised models.

The outcome of this project was the establishment of a partnership with Rivalea Australia, the producer of St Bernards Free Range Pork.

Rivalea’s commitment to it’s core values as a company, and the attitude of it’s staff in living out these principles on a daily basis was a major contributing factor to the decision to add St Bernards Pork to the portfolio.

It replaced another free range product that unfortunately was identified as not being as closely aligned to our core company values as St Bernards.

This project entailed an indepth analysis of our office waste and consumable use.

This project involved the in depth analysis, identification, and measurement of a number of common office consumables that are used within the business.

Paper usage was identified as a major consumable within the business – with every delivery accompanied by a paper invoice, and many documents being distributed in hard copy (price lists, credit applications and brand information).

A number of changes were made to the sourcing strategy for these consumables, including switching to carbon neutral, chemical free paper that is sourced from FSC Certified regenerative forest projects.

It also provided the basis for future projects related to digitization – where we can completely eliminate the paper trail, and further reduce our environmental impact.

As an industry that can at times be opaque, with differing standards and interpretations for ‘free range’ and ‘barn raised’, we decided that we needed to cut through and ensure we were aligned with the right producers.

The outcome of this project was the identification of “Nichols Poultry” in Tasmania as having the best in class standards for Free Range of any medium size producer.

We incorporated their “Nichols Ethical Free Range” product into our portfolio (replacing an outgoing free range product), and launched it at an industry event in November 2018.

Current Projects

Chemical Free Project

Harsh cleaning chemicals are used every day to ensure sanitization of our meat processing facility. Is there a better way?

The use of chemicals as a way to sanitize and sterilize in the food processing industry is widespread. Some of these chemicals are quite harsh – and while they are effective at their job – they also have an effect on those who use them every day, and the environment that inevitably absorbs them after their use.

Through the installation of a unique “E-Water” system – we want to change all that – and go completely chemical free.

eWater is produced by applying an electrical charge to a mixture of ordinary tap water and salt.

Known as electrolysis, this process splits the water mixture into positive and negative ions, creating two highly effective and remarkably safe solutions on opposing ends of the pH scale: alkaline for cleaning and acidic for antimicrobial sanitising.

There are in fact a large number of research studies that have found this electrolyzed water process to be more effective than chemicals in reducing the levels of harmful bacteria.

We aim to have this unit installed and the project completed by mid 2019.

Cardboard is one of the biggest waste streams of our industry. How can we eliminate or reduce it?

Cardboard can quite often fly under the radar from a waste perspective. And why wouldn’t it? It’s highly recyclable, and relatively environmentally friendly compared to other waste streams.

But the waste, and cost to deal with that waste, can be huge. This project aims to deliver on an effective reuseable crate system. To do this though – we cannot just have crates at our factory – we need to ensure the product is packed into these crates at the source – at the abattoir. This is the only way to completely eliminate the waste stream.

We are partnering with our suppliers and customers to conduct a number of trials to allow a crate solution to work within the supply chain.

We know kitchen fit outs and displays can be expensive - we want to help.

This project involved the design of a customer partnership program for the purchase of meat related equipment within restaurants. We know that this equipment can be expensive – so if we can help out – we will.

Items like dry age display cabinets, rotisseries and open grills are sometimes a luxury that are difficult to afford. In return for long term supply agreements, we are helping to make them a reality for many of our customers.

Wherever possible, we are looking for and encouraging producers to adopt less intensive practices.

We want to support those companies and brands who are actively trying new, less intensive methods of raising animals. Just because it has always been done one way, doesn’t mean that it should stay the same.

We hope to encourage farming techniques that are more in touch with nature – and one industry that we seek in particular to encourage a process of change is the grain fed beef industry.

While we understand there are compelling reasons for animals to be confined to a feedlot, we are working with a select number of producers who are seeking to break that mould. They are hoping to combine the positive attributes of grain feeding, but in a free range environment, removing the need for the animal to be confined to a small feedlot pen.

Small business is the life-blood of the Australian economy - but too many are being strung out by large corporate customers. What can we do to help with this?

On the 7th December 2018, Flinders and Co became a signatory to both of:

The Australian Supplier Payment Code (maintained by the Business Council of Australia) and

The National Transparency Register (maintained by the Australian Small Business Ombudsman)

Unfortunately, many small businesses in Australia suffer financial stress as a result of long payment terms, often from large corporate customers.

The ASBFEO’s 2017 Payment Times and Practices Inquiry found Australian corporations paid invoices on average 26.4 days late – the worst in the world.

We are committed to doing what we can to help our small business suppliers with their cash flow requirements. Our Signature on the above codes binds us to a maximum 30 day payment terms with these suppliers. There are many small suppliers that we work with where we actually pay 7 or 14 days to help support their business.

We are constantly working with our suppliers to ensure alignment with our vision

You are what you eat, and we are what we sell. We need to ensure that all of our products and the farmers who produce them, are well aligned with our company vision.

It’s also important we remain completely abreast of any new techniques or production changes that they are implementing – to ensure we can provide feedback and encouragement for change that is positive.

This project entails demonstrating to a major producer the value in developing a new brand to champion their way of farming

Without naming names – this project relates to a major producer, and showing recognition for the changes they are making in their intensive farming methods. We want to champion the efforts they are making, and ensure that they receive appropriate recognition for the amazing system they have pioneered. Part of this project is ensuring that we can help prove that this system is commercially viable.

Future Projects

Plastic Reduction Project

Nearly every piece of meat in the industry arrives in a vacuum sealed bag, or plastic lined box. How can we change this?

It sometimes flies under the radar, but industry usage of petroleum derived plastics as packaging for meat products is enormous. Think about nearly every package of meat you ever purchase as a consumer, or that enters a venue. It is inevitably accompanied by single use, fossil fuel derived, non bio-degradable, non-recyclable plastic.

This plastic serves an important purpose – to maintain the integrity and safety of the product. And it does this job better than any other material yet known to man. But how can we innovate in this space? How can we think differently, how can we encourage plastic manufacturers to look outside the box?

We have already implemented a corn-starch derived semi bio-degradable and fully recyclable plastic tray for our retail packing line, but this accounts for only a small fraction of the total amount of plastic that passes through our warehouse. What else can we do, and what other solutions can we find?

A lack of new skilled staff entering the hospitality and meat industries is a problem - how can we help fix this?

Apprenticeships and traineeships are the lifeblood of both the meat and hospitality industries. They are the conduit for new talent to enter with the right skills and training to ensure that our industries continue to thrive.

But surviving on apprenticeship wages can be tough, and is sometimes a turn off for people who are considering applying for one.

How can we help, encourage, and support apprentices through their course? This project will see us offer heavily discounted produce specially for these apprentices to help them keep their cost of living down as they progress through their training.

Hospitality staff are busy, and they deserve to eat the same amazing produce they serve day in day out at home

This project aims to provide an easy, no fuss service to our client’s staff. We know that hospo staff are time poor – and sometimes it’s hard to find the time to seek out great produce to cook with at home.

We want to offer a personalized service that piggy backs on our existing delivery service to restaurants. Staff will be able to order produce online, at restaurant prices, and have them delivered with their next restaurant delivery.

With their own login, they will be able to manage payments directly on the platform, and have their delivery brought straight to the coolroom with their name on it.

We want our customers to become passionate ambassadors. Education and knowledge is key to empowering them.

A great story is nothing if you have no-one to tell it. Too often, those front of house staff on the coal face are not given enough support by suppliers to effectively craft a narrative around the produce they are serving. We want to change that.

Waiters and servers are the real story – tellers. We need to ensure that they have the tools and the knowledge to tell the wonderful stories of our producers well.

For our customers to see value in our produce, their diners must see value. Quality is one part of the puzzle, but provenance, terroir, and most importantly, an intimately knowledgeable waiter all contribute to creating a memorable experience.

The amount of paper consumed by most small and medium size businesses is enormous. How can we reduce this?

When we reviewed our consumable use as a company, we found the amount that we went through incredible. And we are only a small company. Whilst we have changed to environmentally friendly, carbon neutral paper options, we are still committed to finding ways to remove the need for the printed sheet within our operations.

As part of this, we hope to make our operations completely paperless. This will involve the installation of touch screens and PDA’s on the factory floor, digital proof of delivery handsets for drivers, and encouraging customers to accept digital only invoices and delivery dockets.

While the details are still secret, this project aims to help our clients access a special service to allow them to get more bums on seats

We can’t say too much about this one just yet – owing to this projects highly innovative nature.

But we want to provide value to our customers beyond simply furnishing them with a meat product. We want to connect them to more consumers who are interested in the story of the produce they source from us.

This project will aim to connect more of these ‘warm lead’ consumers, with our clients, to get their bums on seats.

Our top secret staff share project is just that – top secret. Owing to it’s highly innovative nature, it will be an Australian first, and potentially a world first for a meat supplier. We can’t wait to share with you exactly what these top secret staff shares are…..stay tuned in 2019.

Our top secret tours project is just that – top secret. Owing to it’s highly innovative nature, it will be an Australian first, and potentially a world first for a meat supplier. We can’t wait to share with you exactly what these top secret tours are…..stay tuned in 2019.